Man faces charges after allegedly threatening woman with rifle

PITTSTON, Maine — A drunken Kennebec County man chose to resolve a rift with a woman by threatening her with a gun, and now he’s facing charges, police said.

Police were sent to a Kelley Road residence early Sunday morning to deal with Donald Stuart, 54, who had attempted to get a female living at his residence to leave, Chief Deputy Everett Flannery of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office said.

Stuart, who Flannery said was drunk, escorted the woman out of the house with a .22-caliber rifle in his hand, and discharged it inside once the woman got outside.

The woman ran to a neighbor’s house and contacted police, who discovered Stuart had six additional firearms in a safe in the house, according to Flannery.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Stuart and charged him with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and reckless conduct. The woman was not injured in the incident, and Flannery said it’s unclear what fueled Stuart’s fire in the argument.

“I don’t know why the firearm came into play,” he said. “When you’re drunk, I guess you do things that aren’t necessarily rational. Now he’s got to atone for those actions.”

Stuart remained at the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta on Tuesday afternoon.